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[lordoftheozarks]

When the ringing stops, all you'll hear is a cold voice that says one simple word, "Speak."

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[lordoftheozarks]

Her entrance leaves quite an impression on him. One of his thin brows raises in an unspoken question, but she's already posing him one of her own before he can get further than The Look. Good news, says she? It must be very good to set her ears flapping like that.

"Let's hear it already," he says in amused exasperation. "If you hold it in any longer your ears are going to fly off the sides of your head."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"I've gotten confirmation and the front door is open for business, condoms no longer required, we are ready to fucking go -" She's talking fast, her native accent thick on her words in her excitement which gives her voice a somewhat slurred and lilting quality. "- and that's just the good news, there's also the better news, are you ready are you ready are you -"

cw: discussion of pregnancy all over this thread

[lordoftheozarks]

That news hits him like a sack of bricks upside the head. He actually staggers in place, putting a hand out to catch himself on the kitchen table. Condoms not needed? So then... there's no chance of pregnancy? But, then, why is she calling it good news? Is it...good news?

"Please," he all but begs, "don't keep me in suspense."

Expect It To Be The Main Topic

[somebodychildofanyone]

Warm hands on Erik's cheeks. River presses her forehead against his, grinning like a loon, practically glowing.

Well okay, also literally glowing, but details.

"If you're amenable to it," she says rather more slowly, making herself be a little calmer, "the Mothers are willing to intercede once they can. To bless you with the power to sire children of your body. And I think I'd rather like some."

Re: to infinity

[lordoftheozarks]

His eyes fly open wide, gaze locked on her as his hands reach up to grip hers on his face. Is this real? Yes. Of course it is. River would never joke about something like this.

Then...

That means...

"Living children? From me?"

He's a vampire. He doesn't have blood pressure anymore. Yet, he still feels like he's about to collapse backward. Of all the things he ever imagined for himself, this was one he'd never let himself dare to hope for. He could be a father. River could be a mother to his flesh and blood child.

He's lost complete control of his face. His expression cycles through shock, joy, fear, hope, and a million other iterations. Tears are leaking out of his eyes and he doesn't even realize it.

"This is... more than good news. River, this is a miracle. How? How is this possible?"

[somebodychildofanyone]

Almost laughing: "You answered your own question, love. Miracle."

[lordoftheozarks]

"I suppose so..." He can't help but shake his head in disbelief. Nothing could ever have prepared him for this. His mind is swirling.

"River. I think I need to sit down."

[somebodychildofanyone]

The urge to sweep Erik off his feet is strong, but River represses it; she gently guides her lover to the couch, and sits with him, holding his hand. Her voice sobers up, just some. "I know there's a lot to talk about. I'd like to talk about it right now, if we can, but like...how to put this..."

"...I want to be a mother. I'd like to have children of my body but adoption is far off the table. And even if you don't want this miracle, if you reject it for whatever reason, like...if I got drunk and woke up with like, Laois's children, I'd still want you to be a father to them. Does that make sense?"

[lordoftheozarks]

His mind is moving so fast that, in comparison, all the world around him feels like it's in slow motion. He finds himself seated on the sofa, his hand in hers, still clawing his way back up to the surface of this emotional tidal wave.

"I want it," he says emphatically. He doesn't want his current state of shock to give her the wrong idea about that.

"Yes, it makes sense. Forgive me, River. I've... I'd convinced myself it wasn't possible. I told myself that raising my sister's spawn would be the closest I ever came. You may have to do the talking. I barely know where to begin."

[somebodychildofanyone]

She strokes the back of Erik's hand, her heart fluttering at his assertion that he does want this, that he's wanted it for a long time. Wren's love...she'd been scared that maybe he wouldn't...

"I've been in written correspondence with Celestine," River murmurs. "That's where I'm getting this information. Right now, children between us are impossible, hence uh. Hence the front door opening up. But Celestine...my friend says what you need is the 'spark of life', and that she and her sisters are willing to provide. And I had to come tell you, y'know?"

[lordoftheozarks]

"The goddesses would really do that for me? For us?" Perhaps he really should stop avoiding them and the temple.

Some small voice in the back of his mind is asking when the hell River wrote that letter, but he's too overwhelmed with all of this to pay it much attention.

"A spark of life? What does that mean?"

[somebodychildofanyone]

"I'm not entirely certain! But it's exciting, isn't it?" She leans in a little closer, a little playful. "Celestine'll take letters, you know. If you want to ask. Leave it on her altar or burn it in your hearth, and wait. Or just wait a little further, she said she'll be around for her holiday later on in fall. Surely, my lord, a personal meeting wouldn't be too frightening?"

[lordoftheozarks]

"Exciting, and mildly terrifying." Maybe more than mildly. What does giving a spark of life to an undead creature look like? He has so many questions.

"I think meeting her in person to give her my thanks is the very least I could do."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"I'm not...not scared, myself. I dunno what that means for our potential kids, y'know? Half-elves? Dhampir? A new thing I've never even heard of? But...I'm ready to take what comes. They're gonna be la Croix, the whole family is freaks and necromancers already, they'll be in good company."

[lordoftheozarks]

"I can't help but worry about the unknown." Including worry about her, and what carrying children from him might do to her. But the goddesses wouldn't suggest such a thing if it would be her doom. A friend wouldn't do that.

"They will be very well cared for. There is no doubt. They will be loved unconditionally."

He grips her hand in his now, and moves from off the couch to the floor, down on one knee. He looks up into her eyes with an expression of deep love and gratitude... and also a fair bit of anxiety.

"If the children will be la Croix, then I, too, would like to bear that name. River, will you marry me and bestow your family name upon me?"

1/3

[somebodychildofanyone]

Stunned silence.

2/3

[somebodychildofanyone]

Stunned Silence 2: Revenge of the Stunned Condition.

3/3

[somebodychildofanyone]

"I - are you sure? What about...Chris, or...I - I mean -"

So, Erik. You've been a Lord, and a whore. Both professions should have given you experience with someone who clearly wants to just say yes but is having a brief crisis of conscience, yes?

[lordoftheozarks]

He chuckles and lifts off his knees enough to brush a kiss against her cheek.

"I'm not suggesting we cut Chris out of things in any way. So long as neither you nor they have a problem with being part of an open marriage."

He's been with her long enough to read the signs, even without his years of experience. He settles beside her on the sofa again, still gripping her hand.

"I'd like to keep my title, but the name Osborne has no greater meaning to me. Yours does. Say yes, River, please? We'll attend to the details as they come."

[somebodychildofanyone]

Her first answer is a fierce kiss, pulling Erik tight to her body; her teeth bite his lip, her breathing is hard, her heart pounding. She comes away red in the face, her ears flat against her head with sheer emotion.

Positive stress is, after all, still stress.

"Welcome to the family, Lord la Croix," she whispers, tears standing out in the corners of her eyes. "Yes, absolutely yes!"

[lordoftheozarks]

He revels in the heat of her mouth, and her body so tight against his. He craves it, and he's certain he always will. His arms wrap around her as a hungry growl lifts from his throat at the sensation of her teeth in his lip. He could listen to the sound of her heart pounding for an eternity. He intends to. For as long as they live.

"That has a lovely ring to it," he whispers back into her ear. "Thank you, my beloved, for making it possible for me to have a family."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"We have so much research to do now," River murmurs to him, stopping to nip at Erik's ear. "Local marriage laws, wedding traditions, we gotta figure out...I mean, my people do torcs as signs of marriage but that'd make casual feeding at least a little annoying for you."

Not that River minds being bitten on the inner thigh, but the wrist is a no-go thanks to her sigils and putting an obstacle on her neck...

[lordoftheozarks]

The nip of her teeth tempts him to stop talking in favor of other activities but... the words of River's visiting sister float into his mind then.

"When you say your people, do you mean your birth family, River? Is that a tradition they have?" He's not too worried about the obstacle. It's no worse than a necktie, and with neckties, he has to be careful about stains.

"The closest equivalent I have is exchanging wedding rings."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"...What is it with pale humans specifically and wedding rings..." She grins, a little shyly, and clears her throat. "It's uh, shared, in a sense? The elves in Greenwald kinda ended up passing torcs on as a tradition to the humans there, but according to Robert our family had a similar tradition goin' all the way back to the deserts from which we originally hailed. Still, the styles are pretty different..."

[lordoftheozarks]

All right. Now he is beginning to worry.

"Different how? I have heard of torcs, but the ones I am familiar with are thin metal, and lay against the collar bones. I take it the ones you mean are not so?"